Liquor vendors seek time to shift outlets

Vendors sought court leniency to continue operating their outlets till their licences expired or it to tweak the order and make it in line with state rules which are less strict and allow them to have stores beyond 100 or 220 metres of the highways.Samanwaya Rautray | ET Bureau | March 31, 2017, 08:33 IST

NEW DELHI: Liquor vendors on Thursday sought more time from the Supreme Court to comply with an order to shift their outlets to at least 500 metres from national and state highways.

Restaurants and hotels pleaded for an exemption from the order that comes into effect on April 1. Vendors sought court leniency to continue operating their outlets till their licences expired or it to tweak the order and make it in line with state rules which are less strict and allow them to have stores beyond 100 or 220 metres of the highways.

Some contested the December 15 order - it was meant to check drunk-driving - as completely unconstitutional. "Can this court by a fiat take away the state's power to make rules on a subject which is on the state list? Can a court order supplant a host of state laws," asked senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, who appeared for some liquor vendors.

"This is not within the court's remit." He was arguing before a bench comprising Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justices DY Chandrachud and L Nageswar Rao. Justice Chandrachud rejected this argument, saying that the top court had only extended a central government notification.